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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27635183">We Carry on I - Entertaining the idea</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SSJandTechno/pseuds/SSJandTechno'>SSJandTechno</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>We Carry On [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Critical Role (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cassandra de Rolo Needs a Hug, Displacement, Execution, F/M, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Not by a de Rolo!, Percy is a pile of issues in a nice coat, So much displacement, These people are never going to be normal, Trauma, Vex is just grieving</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:19:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,451</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27635183</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SSJandTechno/pseuds/SSJandTechno</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What do you do after you've saved the world for about the sixth time?<br/>How do you go back to the life you were born for when almost everyone who schooled you for it is dead?<br/>How do you live on when half of your soul has been taken by The Raven Queen?</p>
<p>After episode 115 of Campaign 1, the survivors of Vox Machina have lives ahead of them. But all of them, and Cassandra, will carry the scars of their experiences until their final breaths. This is a story of the surviving de Rolos, old and new, trying to live on. </p>
<p>Post Search for Bob. Ignores the Dalen's Closet one shot. I wrote this before I knew what happened in it. Sorry.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cassandra de Rolo &amp; Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, Cassandra de Rolo &amp; Vex'ahlia, Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III/Vex'ahlia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>We Carry On [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2020607</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I have a lot of this fic. <br/>How much ends up on AO3 honestly depends on how it's received. <br/>If you like it, ask for more</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You’re not going out of the castle today, are you?”<br/>“No, Cass.” Percy said, surprisingly calmly. “You put this in to me very firmly, we’re expecting the Hanserren party today, so I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got minor bits I can do on paper until they turn up.”<br/>“And Vex, you’re-”<br/>“I’m free. I’ve got nothing I need to do.”<br/>“Have you got anything left you need to bring up from The Third House?”<br/>“Nothing that needs my supervision.” Things were changing. Things were changing very fast. Taryon was gone, had been gone for four weeks – how could it only be four weeks – and Vex had given up the only home that had ever been hers and hers alone. She was a de Rolo now. She lived in Castle Whitestone.  Percy had moved out of his childhood quarters to join her in rooms spacious enough for two adults, with an attached room that felt to Vex uncomfortably like an awaiting nursery. So much had happened. So much had been lost. <br/>Cassandra had taken the bit between her teeth and got back to work not three days after she’d been resurrected. Part of Vex wondered if the busyness was a shield. She… Vex wondered whether, if it hadn’t been for Grog and his stupid cards, she might have run off in to the woods with Trinket for a week or two to be alone with her grief. It was like the pressure of the Water Plane dragging at her, making everything she did difficult. The only person whose company she tolerated easily at the moment was Percy’s. Her duties as Grandmistress of the Grey Hunt were being half done, half delegated. Percy seemed to be walking a middle road: quiet, but personable; slow, but meticulous. It wasn’t the frenzy he’d shown after their first run-in with The Briarwoods. He just seemed to be taking a breath, and carrying on, none the worse for having lost an arm, thanks to Keyleth. <br/>“Good.” Cassandra continued. “Arguably, this comes under your remit as Grandmistress of the Grey Hunt, it’s diplomacy.”<br/>“I’d say Curator.” Percy said. “It’s more trade than diplomacy.”<br/>Cassandra shook her head. “I am not trusting Meduil with this. She’s a fine administrator, but this needs to be approached like diplomacy, and she’s beyond useless at that.”<br/>“Agreed.” Percy said. The Hanserrens were a successful trading clan in Turst Fields. They’d been sending missives back and forth with them for months about the possibility of a new trade and transport deal. This visit had been months in planning. It had started before Winters Crest, before… anything else. She and Percy had only been newly married. So much had changed and life went on anyway. Whitestone still had to be fed. So to that end, The de Rolos – Vex included – were entertaining and making friends with a few children of a wealthy house. Vex would do her job, she’d be as charming as she’d learned to be when charm was all that stood between her and starvation, but she had no stomach for it today.<br/>“So Jarett,” Cassandra started.<br/>“Lady Cassandra?” Jarett dipped his head slightly as he spoke. He’d joined them for breakfast this morning, as Captain of the Castle Guard. <br/>“Are you clear on what searches you’re to carry out?”<br/>Jarett put down his food and started counting on his fingers. “The cleric will detect magic, detect evil and good, and use zone of truth at my discretion. We will just basically search everything to within an inch of its life. You three stay armed, they don’t, Lady Vex’ahlia keeps her bear close, and if things get ugly, you three run. Though, quite honestly I don’t know what they would have to do to be a genuine threat to you two.”<br/>“Catch us unawares.” Percy said grimly. Jarett went silent. </p>
<p>There was a tap at the door.  <br/>“Come.” Cassandra called. <br/>Jack, one of the manservants, appeared round the door. “Missive for you, m’lady.” He handed a folded piece of paper to Cassandra. “Galloped here, moments ago.”<br/>Vex watched Cassandra read it, then put her head in one hand. <br/>“The timing of this is impeccable.”<br/>“What?” Percy asked.<br/>“That… that fire in Solace Hold, five days ago.”<br/>“Young couple, house burned, wife killed, husband got out?” Vex asked. “Mercifully didn’t spread.”<br/>“Arrus.” Percy said.  Vex looked at him. “His name was Arrus. I knew him as a boy. His wife was Daisy.”<br/>“The Solace Hold Warden says they’re treating it as murder and fire-setting. And that’s beyond what he can sentence for.” Death. The Guardian of Woven Stone was the only person in Whitestone who could sentence person to death. There was a very long silence.<br/>“Will they bring the accused here or..?”<br/>“No.” Cassandra said, standing up. “They may do that in Emon, but they’ll want to show me the house. I have to go. I have to go now. This can’t wait.” She took a breath. “But that leaves you with the Hanserrens.”<br/>“It’s just a reception today, Cass, if they even arrive today. We can do that. And even if you’re not back tomorrow, even if they’re not delayed for any reason, we can start the trade talks. Have you ever heard Vex haggle?”<br/>“Forgive me, Vex, it’s a little different to-”<br/>“Only in semantics, Cass. We can handle it. Go and do your job, we’ll do ours.”<br/>Cassandra stood still for a long moment, then nodded. “Jack, go and tell the grooms to get five horses saddled within the hour, and tell them they’re making the run to Solace Hold. Jarett, you are not coming. You are defending Whitestone. Go and find me Trish, Jan, and two others you think fit. They need to be able horsemen as well as able fighters. I am not going to dawdle.” Cass looked over her shoulder at the waiting staff outside the door and called “and somebody find Erin and tell her to get my riding clothes ready.”</p>
<p>Cass, it occurred to Percy, not for the first time, was the sort of Guardian of Woven Stone he could never have been. For one thing, she was tough as Bulette hide. Not two days after she’d been abducted and killed, she’d been back in full work; judge and governor. After the whole affair with Pandemonium had been sorted out, Percy had felt himself hit a wall. He supposed he’d just been exhausted, and so was Vex. He’d invited her to come and live as his wife, and she’d accepted. With Taryon gone, he suspected she couldn’t face the idea of being alone. She kept waking in the night and calling for her brother. Both of them were still reeling from that blow, expected though it had been. Cass, by contrast, had been abducted against her will, killed by people she trusted, then sent away from the fight helpless, and didn’t seem thrown, not really. <br/>For another, Cass was pragmatic. Among Vox Machina, he and Vex had been seen as the pragmatists, and not without reason, but both of them paled beside Cass. She just got on and did what needed to be done. She’d kept Whitestone running throughout all the dragon madness, kept the people fed and quiet, including taking on hundreds of refugees, many of whom had stayed to replace some of those the Briarwoods had killed. She’d done an amazing job. <br/>There was just one aspect in which Percy could wish Cass’s pragmatism would shut up. The day Vex had started moving her things in to their rooms (not the rooms that had been occupied by Percy’s parents, those were vacant), Cass had asked him whether Vex was proving barren. When Percy had replied that Vex had a great deal that was new at the moment, and that adding an infant to the mix probably wouldn’t help, Cass had suggested that she had better find herself a husband in the near future. Percy didn’t much like that idea. Part of it, he suspected, was that he didn’t think anyone could ever be good enough for Cassandra, but part of it was her tone, and her youth. He didn’t like the idea of Cassandra tying herself to a man for life if her only thought was to get children from him as quickly as she could. <br/>There was no immediate threat, and he ought to have time to talk her out of anything really stupid.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Percy spent most of the next hour stripping and cleaning retort. Vex honed daggers beside him, a bow was far too obvious. It wouldn’t do for them to carry big, obvious weapons, but Jarett could. Jarett would.  When Vex and Percy were armed to their satisfaction, they cleaned themselves in silence, and Percy retired to the library, to pick up the textbook on ceramics. Vex followed and spread a map of The Parchwood out on the floor.<br/>“Are you worried?” She asked, as they entered their second hour of reading.<br/>“About what?”<br/>“About this.” She was looking at him, not at the map. <br/>Percy took his glasses off in one hand and sighed. “Part of me knows it’s stupid. Part of me knows how ridiculously unlikely it is that the Hanserrens are…” he tailed off. Vex heard the unspoken: the death toll of the last ‘visiting nobles’ Percy had received at Whitestone. “And that you and I have faced down a few gods and lived. But I can’t quite put the notion away.” Vex, slightly blurred, got up and came to him. She stood beside him and put her hands on his shoulders, wordlessly.</p>
<p>Noon came and went. Vex and Percy ate little, in case their guests arrived and hadn’t eaten. Vex continued to sort through the sightings of different creatures that had been reported to her, those that could be hunted for food and those that needed to be hunted as pests. Spring lent itself to the latter. Killing anything in its breeding season was an excellent way to stunt next year’s food supply, though one of her hunters had shot three bucks last week. She was wondering if she oughtn’t go after Harpies. They were – particularly on the coast road – perennial pests, and not intelligent enough to negotiate with. Therefore, they probably came under her remit. They wouldn’t be an easy hunt though, probably why nobody had done it yet. The terrain they’d chosen made –</p>
<p>There was a knock at the door. Vex lifted her head sharply. She saw Percy do the same.<br/>“Come.”<br/>Jarett appeared round the door. “We believe they are in sight of Town Walls, Lady Vex, Lord Percy.”<br/>Percy nodded and got to his feet. Vex copied him. “Thank you.” Percy started. “Go and finish your preparations, we will finish ours.”</p>
<p>Vex stretched her shoulders out as she followed Percy out of the room. “Alice, are you near?” She called. On cue, as usual, Alice appeared. Alice was Vex’s personal maid, the only one who’d followed her up from The Third House. She followed Percy and Vex back to their chambers. <br/>“The purple, m’lady?” Alice said, as she closed the door behind them.<br/>“I think so.” Vex replied. She and Percy hadn’t put their formal wear on yet, they’d been cleaning weapons. Far too high a risk of damaging it. Percy retreated behind the screen to change, he was still modest with Alice. By the time he re-emerged, Alice was finishing braiding Vex’s hair. It was still odd for anyone else other than Vax to do this, but it wasn’t unpleasant, and Alice was good at her job. But she was very quiet today.<br/>“Feathers?”<br/>“Always.” Vex took them up off the dresser and slipped them through her hair, behind her left ear. Percy was doing up his boots. Not his climbing boots. As he crouched, his pistol was obvious. When he stood, it wouldn’t be. Vex’s layered skirt hid her knives very well. She eyed herself in the mirror. She looked… she looked like a noble, like she came from money. That, she supposed, was the point. <br/>There was a noise from below. <br/>Percy stood up and went to the window. “I think they’re here.”<br/>Vex stood up. “Well then,” Alice dropped to her knees, clutching at one of Vex’s hands. “Alice-” The girl was shaking. Suddenly it made sense. Alice’s mother had been a guard on duty the night The Briarwoods had come. Vex sighed. “Alice, get up.” After a moment, she did. Her eyes were brimming with tears.<br/>“I’m sorry, I-”<br/>“Alice, if I truly believed they meant to hurt us, they wouldn’t be here.” Vex glanced past Alice and saw Percy, jaw tight, looking away. “The entire castle is paranoid, and that makes it very, very hard to take. Now go. I won’t have you at the Greet crying. Go and clean yourself up.” Alice nodded, curtseyed, and scampered out. Vex heard Percy sigh deeply. He offered her his arm. She took it. </p>
<p>The entrance hall was lined with servants. Every single person on staff was there, cleaned and dressed to be presented. Percy and Vex made their way along the line, checking. Percy sent another lad away because he was pale with fear. None of the servants looked relaxed, even those who weren’t native Whitestonians, only Trinket looked unworried. Vex wondered if she ought to say something to try to settle them, then wondered if she had any right. She’d not lived through the massacre. They might take it better coming from Percy, but he didn’t seem inclined to say anything. </p>
<p>They went out. Two lines of servants followed and fanned out behind them. Vex and Percy stopped, standing at the top of the stairs, Trinket halted just to her right, watching the scene before them.</p>
<p>Jarett was talking quietly to the inside of the carriage. Jotra, an Erathis cleric, stood close by, eyes unfocussed. Kynan, the thief boy from the slums of Emon, was running his hands over the wood of the carriage, tapping and testing. No fewer than fifteen guards stood by. After a minute, Kynan called out<br/>“Master Jarett, I’m satisfied!” Vex saw Jotra nod at Jarett too.<br/>“Good, let them pass!” Jarett called. “Welcome to Castle Whitestone.” The guards parted and the two near identical horses moved forwards. The gate closed behind the rear of the carriage. Vex stood and watched. She could sense Percy counting his breaths. A boy jumped down from the carriage and opened the door. A man emerged. Probably about Percy’s height, with dark hair and a heavy moustache, though he couldn’t have been as old as Vex was. He offered his hand to a woman, who followed him down. She was younger, probably nearer to Cassandra’s age, and flaxen haired. Avandra, she was pretty. Fair, unblemished skin, a faint blush to her cheeks. The bone structure in her face was so fine that she might have had elven blood, but the give and swell of her hips as she moved was entirely human, just like her little round ears. Her eyes caught on Trinket for a moment.<br/>“Lord and Lady de Rolo,” Jarett said “it is my privilege to present to you Master Hector Dagonet Pelleas Hanserren and Mistress Alyssa Pelleas Hanserren.” So siblings? Percy and Cassandra were both Von Mussel Klossowski de Rolo. Unless Pelleas Hanserren was the surname, and the girl had married in to it. Hopefully it would be obvious in a minute. And they were still holding hands. To Vex, that suggested husband and wife.<br/>Hector Dagonet… whatever his name was, approached and bowed. Alyssa curtseyed. “Lord and Lady de Rolo,” He said “it is a privilege to meet you and to be in this beautiful city.”<br/>“Master and mistress Pelleas Hanserren, it is our privilege to welcome you here.” Percy said, as naturally as breathing. “I am Percival Fredrickstein Von Mussel Klossowski de Rolo III, Sophist of Native Ingenuity, this is my wife, Lady Vex’ahlia de Rolo, Baroness of the first house of Whitestone, Grandmistress of The Grey Hunt, The Sixth Star.” Vex straightened slightly under the weight of her title. “I apologise for the intrusiveness of our welcome, but this city has scars, deeper scars than Emon’s.” <br/>Hector Dagonet nodded. “I have heard stories.”<br/>“I suspect some of them are true.” Percy said quietly. “In any case, have you eaten?”<br/>“Yes. We weren’t sure when we’d reach the city so… “<br/>“Certainly. Would you care to take a little time to refresh yourselves from the road?”<br/>The woman looked at the man as though to ask his permission. He met her eyes.<br/>“Yes, if we may, Lord de Rolo. That would be much appreciated.”<br/>“Then please.” Percy gestured to let them in to the castle.<br/>“And, may I ask,” The man, Hector, continued. “Lady Cassandra de Rolo?”<br/>“I’m afraid I can only offer you her apologies.” Percy replied. “She is nothing if not hardworking, and unfortunately something urgent came up in one of the forest camps which required her attendance immediately. We expect her back late tonight or early tomorrow.”<br/>Hector Dagonet was following. Alyssa was lagging behind, looking sideways at Trinket.<br/>“Oh, don’t mind him.” Vex said. “He’s quite tame. He won’t hurt you.”<br/>The girl still looked doubtful, but passed Trinket.<br/>“Is he…” Hector started.<br/>“Mine? Yes.” Vex said.<br/>“From a cub, he must have been, surely.”<br/>“He was this big.” Vex said, holding out her hands.<br/>“Where did you buy him?”<br/>“I found him. His mother was dead, and he was hungry.”<br/>“The Grey Hunt isn’t an honorary title.” Percy said. “Vex’ahlia is an archer and a huntress. Did you bring staff, Master Hanserren?”<br/>“No, only the groom and a handful of guards. Were you expecting..?”<br/>“No, no.” Percy said. “We’d prepared. This is Saskia.” Percy gestured to a new servant, a refugee from Emon, who didn’t know the fear too well. “She’ll be a chamber maid to you while you’re here.” Saskia curtseyed. “Saskia, please show Master and Mistress Hanserren to their chambers, and attend to them there. The bath chambers are separate if you want to make use of them, we did start heating water for you.”<br/>Alyssa cocked her head.<br/>“Thank you kindly.” Hector Dagonet said. “We will see you anon.”<br/>“Please, not on our account.” Percy said. “Take your time.” Kynan and Jarett came up behind Vex, carrying a large trunk between them. <br/>Percy caught Kynan’s arm and whispered “Get them to bathe if you can. While they’re out of the room, search their things. Get the maid to help you make it look like unpacking.”<br/>Vex looked across at him. “You planned that.”<br/>“Every bit of it.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Percy settled a little over the next hour. Kynan hadn’t found any weapons or magical affects, other than an unenchanted rapier, which looked to Percy as though it had never actually been used. The horses were not polymorphed, the carriage held no secrets that anyone could find, not even Vex. The Hanserrens would have, undoubtedly, the best rooms in the castle, the rooms that had once been Percy’s parents’. Neither Percy nor Cassandra could ever sleep there, not given who’d occupied for so long, not given who’d slept in that bed. Percy suspected that those rooms would be relegated to guest chambers until nobody lived to remember.</p><p>While they waited, Percy and Vex dug out the family tree of the Hanserrens that Cass had meticulously put together.<br/>“So he’s… the patriarch’s second son.”<br/>“Second of five! And all boys!”<br/>“Noble family, darling. Five isn’t excessive. And she married in, presumably. She’s not mentioned anywhere, is she?”<br/>“Would Cass want us to mark her on?”<br/>“Probably. She was Alyssa…”<br/>“Pelleas Hanserren.”<br/>“So nothing is natively hers apart from her given name. That’s interesting.”<br/>“How do you mean?”<br/>“Usually, a noble carries their name with them when they marry, and pass that name on. My mother was Johanna Alecta de Klossowski, she dropped the middle name, but kept her family name and... That’s normal.”<br/>“So she’s… of no family? A maidservant? Orphan?”<br/>“Or illegitimate, I suppose, but hasn’t done anything interesting enough for anyone to give her a title. Or they eloped. Or she’s been disinherited. It’s unusual, but…”</p><p>Hector Dagonet Pelleas Hanserren re-emerged a few minutes ahead of his wife, to join Percy and Vex, who were, by that point, nonchalantly sitting in the library, reading novels. Entertaining for nobility was mostly stagecraft and sleight of hand, and never showing how hard you were trying. Which probably would have been easier if Percy had been able to convince himself that the Hanserrens, with no detectable magic and one unenchanted rapier between them, and only three guards who were billeted nice and far away, under the watch of Whitestonians, were not a serious threat. But he would work with what he had.<br/>“How tired are you and your wife? Would you like to be out for the rest of the afternoon, or stay within the castle?”<br/>“I, for my part, am interested in Whitestone, and I would like to see as much as I can before Lady Cassandra returns and we must attend to business. But I fear that Alyssa is tired. We may have to prioritise today.”<br/>“What did you have in mind?”<br/>“The riflemen.” Hector said. “They are much spoken of abroad. I was hoping to see them in action.”<br/>“That might do better to wait until the morning. They practice at the same time every day, so they’re easy to find.”<br/>“And you are foremost among them, so I’m told.”<br/>“I’m not a Rifleman Guard, but I’m proficient with the weapon.”<br/>“He’s twice as accurate with it as the next best man.” Vex said “He’s being modest.”<br/>“You still hit smaller marks than I do.”<br/>“Not with a gun.” Vex said quickly, as Hector opened his mouth at her. <br/>The door opened again behind Hector. Jarett’s head and shoulder appeared.<br/>“Mistress Alyssa Pelleas Hanserren.” He said, ushering her in. <br/>“Thank you Jarett.” Vex said. “If you would wait.”<br/>“Of course, my Lady.”</p><p>Alyssa said that she was too tired to go down to the city today, so the Castle and grounds would have to satisfy Hector. Vex wondered if Alyssa was being entirely truthful, but couldn’t think what Alyssa would gain by lying, unless it was a particularly petty bargaining chip. But Alyssa had seemed to be clinging to Hector, she’d seemed affectionate. Vex supposed she would see. <br/>They started indoors, as a four all together. Percy was as he’d been for the Trickfoots, full of stories and facts, performing. But Vex couldn’t help but notice that none of Percy’s stories were younger than he was. He stuck to the old ghost stories, of Alecta de Rolo, four generations ago who’d thought she could see spirits rising from the stone, of the first founders of the castle. <br/>“So where did the de Rolos live before this was built?” Hector asked. After Percy, he was doing the most talking. Vex had hardly got three words out of Alyssa<br/>“In The First House, in the city. There were – still are - three Great Houses of Whitestone.”<br/>“Do the Houses still stand?”<br/>“They’ve all been rebuilt at least once, but in a sense, yes.”</p><p>Vex called Trinket to heel again as they stepped outside. The afternoon had warmed a little and the gardens were starting to come to life. They were Cassandra’s domain. They were no longer just the overspill from Ripley’s acid pits, though Vex knew there was more than skill and determination in how quickly this part of the land was recovering. Cassandra had coaxed a couple of spells from Keyleth. They’d barely got to the bottom of the steps before Percy took Hector’s question about horses as an excuse to split the group up. Percy led Hector down towards the stables, Vex coaxed Alyssa up towards the formal gardens.<br/>“Lets leave the men to be men for a little while.”<br/>“Yes, lets.” Alyssa replied. “I’m… I’m not much for riding. I was never very good at it.”<br/>“They bite at one end, kick at the other, and aren’t very comfortable in the middle?” Vex said. A sanitised version of something she’d heard her grandfather say.<br/>Alyssa nodded. “Quite, Lady Vex’ahlia.”<br/>“Vex will do, darling. Vex’ahlia is a mouthful.”<br/>“As you prefer, Lady Vex.” Alyssa drew a breath. “Oh! Is that an Atruscan Vine?”<br/>“You’ve sharp eyes, Alyssa.”<br/>“I’ve never seen one as far north as Turst Fields! How long has it been there?”<br/>“Oh now that’s a question for Cassandra. If you asked me to guess… two years?”<br/>“Does it flower?”<br/>“Yes.” Vex said slowly.<br/>“How did you manage…”<br/>Vex suspected that a substantial portion of the answer to that was ‘Keyleth’, but wasn’t about to say so. “Well, it’s cladded up to this high in winter, and it’s south-facing, so in summer it spends two thirds of its time in the sun which – Trinket, don’t even think about it.” Trinket had been standing at the corner, looking up at a birds’ nest above as though he was thinking of climbing up. “Anyone would think I didn’t feed you. Come on.” Alyssa let Trinket go ahead of her. “I’ll say again,” Vex said, “he’s quite tame. I’ve slept in his arms, stood on his shoulders. He’ll not hurt anyone unless I ask him to.”<br/>There was a moment’s silence. “Why a bear?”<br/>“He needed me.” Vex said simply. “He wasn’t old enough to survive on his own.”<br/>“Didn’t your family mind?”<br/>“Well my brother spoils him terribly so-” Vex caught herself. Spoils. She blinked hard. “It was what it was.” She took a breath quickly. “So how long have you and Hector been married?” She felt the jar of that transition, she felt her own desperation to get away from what she’d just said. Alyssa either didn’t or was well mannered enough to ignore it. She blushed prettily and looked over her shoulder at her husband, who was leaning over a stable door with Percy, his back to them. <br/>“Oh goodness, now it’s… forty-six days.”<br/>Vex smiled. “You’re more newly wed than we are.” Alyssa cocked her head, asking how long. “Four months. How did you meet him?”<br/>“He and one of his brothers came to see my father, not long after the dragons were vanquished.  We were one of the best houses still standing anywhere near Westrun, so they passed through, they stayed for a couple of nights, we met then. I thought he was very handsome and very charming so…” Alyssa waved a hand. Vex let her talk on. It sounded like half a story, as though Alyssa either didn’t want to tell her everything, or there were parts she didn’t actually know. Vex didn’t feel like the younger woman was holding out on her, but… The negotiating times to meet through their fathers, the careful supervision she described, touching hands, then glancing at a chaperone for approval... And the longer Alyssa talked, the more convinced Vex became that she had nothing in common with this woman, this girl. When Alyssa turned the question back to Vex, Vex was very selective. She mentioned fighting with Percy, but not where she and the others had found him, or the state they’d found him in. She mentioned Percy’s need to return here and free his people, but not how dark his road here had been, not the reserved, eloquent man she’d known screaming murder in to the night, not the bodies hanging from The Sun Tree.  Given Alyssa’s mentions of chaperones, Vex also didn’t mention the night before Emon. Her job was to make herself seem similar to Alyssa, to create a false unity, a false empathy to make negotiations smoother.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hector Dagonet was quietly and politely guarded with Percy for all the time they walked the gardens together, far enough behind their wives that neither could hear the others conversation, though Vex and Alyssa did seem to make each other laugh now and then. Vex did this so easily. When she decided that it was in her interests to be charming, she could make anybody like her and, judging by the occasional guiding hand on Alyssa’s arm, she was going beyond that today. She was, very carefully, very gently, asking Alyssa to trust her. <br/>“Your wife,” Hector Dagonet started. “she’s… is she an elf?”<br/>“Half elf.” Percy corrected. <br/>“Syngornian?”<br/>“That of her which is elven is Syngornian.”<br/>“How did you meet her?”<br/>“On the road.” Percy said. “When I was in exile. How much do you know of what happened here?”<br/>“Lady Cassandra said Whitestone was under the thumb of tyrants for some years, and that you came back among heroes to free it, the same heroes that brought down The Hope Devourer.”<br/>“Vex’ahlia was one of those heroes. She was my comrade long before I thought anything else of her.”<br/>“You’ll forgive my saying that she doesn’t look…”<br/>“Does anyone look dangerous when they’re dressed like this?” Percy asked. “If you come back in the autumn and ride out hunting with her, you’ll begin to see what she’s capable of. Where did you come across Alyssa?”<br/>“Her father was just about the only one left running a trading company in that part of the world by the time The Herd of Storms and The Hope Devourer were gone. They – it sounds horrible – but they did very well out of the dragons. Westruun still had to be fed, we had the grain, they had the demand.” <br/>“And you and Alyssa met through…”<br/>“Yes.” <br/>Percy heard what Hector didn’t say. The Dagonets had five sons, connections, title, and resources. Alyssa’s family had suddenly had the lion share of the gold. Alyssa had been a guarantee, a balancing part in the contract. At one point in his life, Percy wouldn’t have turned a hair at that. At one point, he’d more or less expected to be handed a stranger for his wife to make sure something political happened or didn’t happen, and expected to make the best of it. His parents had been such a union and they’d been happy enough. The thought of it turned something in him now. He’d been too long with adventurers. He’d got very used to freedom. <br/>They went on, carefully talking about nothing important, separate from their wives, but no one seemed to want to change that. Vex and Alyssa occasionally glanced back. Percy had no doubt the women were talking about them, but that was fine. It would be interesting to compare notes with Vex later. Though, thinking about it, perhaps it would have been sensible to discuss with Vex where they ought to be economical with the truth. Nothing to be done about it now. <br/>After nearly half an hour discussing game birds and how forestry worked in Whitestone versus Turst Fields, Percy saw Trinket lie down ahead of him. He kept walking. Then he saw Vex, still in a full, layered skirt, help her guest up on to Trinket’s back. The younger woman looked terrified, but buried her hands in Trinket’s fur and held on as the bear stood up. Hector had stopped dead, mouth hanging open.<br/>“Don’t  wor-” Percy started, but Hector ignored him. Hector whooped and started clapping. Vex spun on her heel and curtseyed, Alyssa gave a very regal little wave. <br/>“Your wife is an enchantress.” Hector said quietly. “It’s hard enough to get Alyssa on a horse. Bravo!”<br/>So it seemed that Vex had persuaded Alyssa to trust her. </p><p>They walked in the gardens together, Alyssa still on Trinket’s back, maybe half an hour longer, then the four of them headed in to eat. This was when it had happened before. Percy’s hands were cold and clammy as they sat, it was a constant, conscious effort not to reach for his gun. This was when it had happened before. He tasted nothing of the first course and forbade himself to choke. Vex was doing wonderfully, keeping Hector doing most of the talking. By the end of the meal, Percy’s panic was passing. Why would you waste time sitting and eating with those you intended to kill? They were all shut in a room together, small enough to be covered with a single silence spell. Nobody would see, nobody would hear. There wasn’t even a small herd of children to try to contain. This was the golden opportunity; take the castle, kill all within, and wait for Cassandra. But nothing happened.</p><p>Once the four of them had left the table and retired to sit over wine (Percy was only wetting his lips), Hector changed the subject.<br/>“Now, Alyssa, this man tells me that he and his wife were two of the group of heroes who slew The Hope Devourer.”<br/>Alyssa raised a hand to her mouth. “The great black dragon?” She spluttered for a second. Wine had flushed her cheeks.  She really didn’t look dangerous. “How?”<br/>“A mixture of good luck and good planning.” Vex replied. <br/>“The first step was to get rid of the Herd of Storms.” Percy added. <br/>“That was you too? I always heard that that was one of their own, taking them back to nomadic life.”<br/>“Both of those things are true.” Percy said. “The one of theirs was also one of ours.” Percy felt that this was safe. Most of what Vox Machina had done to Umbrasyl was common knowledge, or would eventually be.  He and Vex explained the politics of the Herd of Storms, the frantic gutter fight that had ended with Kevdak and several bystanders dead, though not in very much detail, then the ambush and the mousetrap, which made their guests laugh, and the attack from within, and how terribly that had nearly ended.  Almost an hour passed like that. It was dark outside by the time Vex described Grog cracking Umbrasyl across the skull. Not many minutes after that, Hector suggested that he and Alyssa should retire to bed.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Vex saw Kynan appear from the shadows almost as soon as Alyssa and Hector had said goodnight and started up the stairs. <br/>“Eavesdrop?” He breathed. “There’s a fine little perch about five feet below their window, it’s not too hard a climb to get to it, or would you rather I skulked by the door?”<br/>“Eavesdrop.” Percy said softly. “We’ve doubled the internal guard tonight, I don’t think they’re a threat just now, they don’t know where we sleep to start.  Go and listen until you’re certain they’re asleep.”<br/>“I slept most of the afternoon, m’lord. I’ll get through the night.”<br/>“I don’t need you to. Just listen. Take the climbing boots if you want them, leave them back in the armoury when you’re done. But be warned, if you lean on them alone, your legs will ache in the morning.”<br/>Kynan nodded once and darted away.  Vex started up the stairs, Percy followed her. There were usually only eight guards on night duty in the castle. Tonight, there were sixteen, though you’d be hard pressed to notice the other eight. A young woman Vex knew to be one of Kynan’s footpads was half way up the stairs with a brush and a bucket, pretending to clean. Her servant’s smock almost completely hid her leather armour. <br/>Alice was, predictably, waiting in Vex and Percy’s chamber. She looked a little calmer.<br/>“Just the gown and the corset, Alice.” Vex said. “I’ll do the rest myself.”<br/>“Very good m’lady.”<br/>Percy sighed heavily and started taking his coat off. “Well, if they’re going to do anything, they’ve lost their best opportunity.” <br/>“We went after the Briarwoods after dinner.” Vex said. <br/>Percy coughed. “How well did that go?”<br/>Vex flickered a smile. “I suppose.” She emerged from her gown again to see Alice looking questioningly at her. “Badly, Alice. Very badly. That was before we came up here.”<br/>“That would have been my strategy;” Percy continued. “Take the most dangerous two at dinner, try to get the rest of the castle down quietly by dawn, set an ambush for Cass, then worry about the town.” He crouched down and set about unloading his gun. “Unless they want to take everyone at once.”<br/>“Hm.” Vex said, as Alice started unlacing her corset. “Three of us, two of them with no magic between them, their guard on the other side of town, sixteen of our guard within dashing distance.”<br/>She heard Percy sigh. “You’re right of course: Most likely, they never intended to try anything, and if they had intended to try anything, most likely they would have tried it by now.”<br/>Vex put her arms up for Alice to take her corset. “And the entire castle is paranoid, which as we both know…” Percy gave a brief half-laugh. “Thank you Alice, that’ll be all.” Vex sat down and started taking jewellery off. Alice opened her mouth and gestured to Vex’s hair. “I’ll be fine, Alice. That’ll be all.” Alice dropped a curtsey and left. Out of the corner of her eye, Vex noticed Percy starting to undress a little more purposefully. “Are you keeping something to hand?” She asked him.<br/>“Manners.” He said. “I can’t quite not. I feel an idiot for it, but I can’t quite not. You?”<br/>“I’ll keep a dagger, and-” Vex gestured to Trinket, who was settling down on the hearthrug. “Actually, Trinket, would you mind going and sleeping against the door?” Trinket obligingly got up and shifted himself so that he blocked the door. “Thank you darling.”<br/>Vex closed the lid on her jewellery box and started taking the pins out of her hair. When it fell down about her shoulders she shook it out and picked the stray pins up off the floor. She turned back to the dresser and started putting them away.<br/>“I feel such a fraud on days like this.” She said, half to herself.<br/>“What?”<br/>She looked round at Percy, he had his back to her. “The… dressing and dining and full titles and…” She waved a hand. “I feel like a child wearing her mother’s dress. As though my mother ever had…” <br/>Percy turned to face her. “Beside Alyssa Pelleas… whatever it is?”<br/>“Both of them.” Vex said. “Both of them, and you, and Cass, were brought up to this. The making polite conversation and pretending to make friends with people who are nothing like you so that you can arrange… whatever. Alyssa – the phrase ‘blushing bud of Avandra’ comes to mind – talks about gardening and chaperones and meetings between fathers and… and I’ve spent the day pretending I have a single thing in common with her. This is her world, not mine and…” Vex shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. “I feel like I’m waiting to be called out as an imposter. That’s all.” <br/>Percy had stood up and faced her fully, one hand on the corner post of the bed.  For a moment, he said nothing. “Firstly,” He said after a moment. “you are titled. You have every right to be here. Firstly because you’re Grandmistress of The Grey Hunt, because I decided you were, and you’re doing a better job than anyone in living memory. Even if you weren’t, you’re here because you are my wife. Under Whitestone law, my birthright is yours. You are no less a de Rolo than my mother was. This castle and this city are yours by right of blood. And, for what it’s worth, you’re much better titled than either of the Hanserrens.” Vex glanced away, feeling herself colour.  “To the second, yes, I feel like I’m doing Julius’s job.” She looked back at Percy. “But we have what we have. To tell you the truth, I’ve been looking at you all day and thinking how easy you make this look. You seem to have Alyssa eating out of your hand. And to the third, no, you’re not like her. I don’t know if you caught this, but Alyssa’s family only rose to prominence after Umbrasyl fell, that’s the only reason the Hanserrens even looked at her. We did that. Our risk, our blood, paid for her family to rise. I think Hector is wise to that, I don’t know if she is. And to that point, what do you think she and hers did about the dragon?” He was staring at her now, and there’d been a shift in his tone. “They hid. They fled. They lay down and let someone else take the risk. I’ve seen you face down seven dragons and never back away. You are not like her, Vex. You are so much stronger. All you have you fought for. All I have you fought for. You are fire and courage and wildness.” Silence hung between them for a moment. “Come to me, Vex’ahlia. Now.”</p><p>Percival jerked awake in the dark. Something had hit the ground outside. Something heavy. Something about as heavy as a body. He was half way to sitting up, one hand reaching for Manners, before he felt rather than saw Vex going for her dagger. He heard the bear’s breath catch. Vex’s free hand caught his wrist. She could see far better than he could. For a moment, neither of them moved, just listened. <br/> “Still.” Vex breathed. She dropped almost noiselessly to the floor and crept towards the window, dagger in hand.<br/>“Pelor, Vex, be careful!” He breathed. She seemed to ignore him. She leant her back against the wall and looked out. After a moment, she shifted to look directly downwards. Percy dropped off the other side of the bed and reached for his pistol. He heard the window open. What was she thinking? He spun around in time to see Vex draw breath and whistle something like a bird call. From outside, a second voice answered her. That was the call of the footpads, Kynan’s crew.<br/>“Vex-”<br/>“Sh.”<br/>He waited. What felt like an eternity, he waited. Suddenly, Vex turned and reached for a slip, then stuck the front half of her torso out of the window.<br/>“Call out to death.” She breathed. That was the prompt. The way of checking that footpads were footpads, not imposters in dark cloaks.<br/>“And listen for wings.” Kynan. That was Kynan, and he was saying that nothing was wrong. If there was danger, the response was ‘and watch for black feathers.’<br/>“What fell?” He heard her breathe.<br/>“I did.” Percy stood up and started making his way over to the window. Kynan was still speaking. “I’d gone stiff sitting and listening and didn’t realise that I had.”<br/>“Are you hurt?”<br/>“Not badly.” Kynan was standing fifteen feet below, staring up at Vex.<br/>“Did you wake them?”<br/>“Him, no. Her, don’t think so.”<br/>“Alright.” Vex said. “Go to bed. We’ll hear your report in the morning.” She closed the window and turned to look at him, silhouetted against what little light there was.  Percy took the powder and bullet back out of his gun. His hands were shaking now. He could feel his breathing growing heavier. The relief was almost worse than the fear. <br/>He wiped his hands on the cloth and got back in to bed. It was still warm from their bodies. Vex settled herself beside him. He rolled half way over and pressed his head in to her shoulder. She could feel him shaking. She knew. She knew exactly how this was for him. One of her hands settled cradling the back of his neck. <br/>“It’s alright.” She breathed. “It’s alright.”</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a tap at the door. Trinket shifted. Vex jumped. So did Percy.<br/>“M’lord? M’lady?” Alice’s voice.  <br/>Vex drew breath to reply, Percy caught her arm. Vex hesitated. She got out of bed, dagger in hand, and started towards the door. It was early dawn. “Alice, how many lived in The Third House when you came to it?”<br/>Alice hesitated. “Seven counting Trinket and Doty.”<br/>“Fine. Trinket, let her in.” Trinket got up sluggishly and moved over. Alice entered, looking questioningly at Vex. “We had a fright in the night, Alice. It was nothing, but paranoia is a force to be reckoned with. What brings you in so early?”<br/>“Lady Cassandra m’lady, m’lord. She came in not ten minutes ago and she wants to speak with you urgently, before the Hanserrens get up.”<br/>“She alright?” Percy asked, pushing himself in to a sitting position. <br/>“She seems tired, m’lord, but I think so. She wanted me to tell you that she has the coffee.”<br/>Percy half-laughed. “Tell her I can take a hint. I’ll be with her in a few minutes.”</p><p>They went in to Cassandra’s study together, barely a pace apart. As soon as the door opened, Cassandra started pouring two more cups of coffee. She did look tired. <br/>“Good morning.” She said.<br/>“Good morning.” Percy replied. “What unholy time did you leave Solace Hold to get here at this hour?”<br/>“Well before dawn. I wanted to be here when you woke. Anyway, Hanserrens. What’s happened so far? Clearly nothing...” She tailed off. The blood of seven de Rolos hung in her unfinished sentence. <br/>Percy did more of the explanation than Vex, Vex presumed Percy knew exactly what information Cassandra would want, so more or less left him to it. <br/>“And Solace Hold?” Percy asked when he’d finished, pouring himself another cup of coffee. “What came of that?”<br/>Cassandra sighed deeply. “A bad business, Percival, a thoroughly bad business. Before I even left the town, Keeper Yennen came rushing up to tell me that he’d been instructed in a dream to send Lucan with me.”<br/>“Sorry, Lucan?” Vex asked. <br/>“He’s a lad in Yennen’s service, younger than I am, but he’s a true cleric, like your Pike is, but nowhere near as powerful. I know better than to argue with Yennen if he says he’s been instructed in a dream, so we fetched the boy a horse and off we went. And thank Erathis we had him. The substance of the trial was a sorry mess. What changed the charge initially was a neighbour saying she’d heard shouting several minutes before she saw flames. Arrus insisted that he and his wife had both started screaming when the fire broke out, not before, and that the fire was from the stove. The Warden was concerned that Arrus had killed his wife, then set fire to the house to cover the crime, but had nothing to prove his suspicion other than one account of raised voices beforehand, but Erathis knows not every row between a married couple ends in murder, and it’s definitely not enough proof to ask for execution. We paused for food, I cornered the warden and dragged out of him in pieces that Daisy’d become a friend to him, so he shouldn’t have been anywhere near the case, and that she’d joked about her husband being a jealous man. On the way back in, Lucan told me that he had the means to make it impossible for anyone in a certain area to lie for some minutes. Have either of you ever heard of such magic?”<br/>“Yes.” Vex said. Percy looked at her. “You weren’t there. Uriel’s lot tried it on me and Vax when we were summoned to explain why we’d attacked guests in his palace. Unfortunately half-elves are difficult to charm and it didn’t work on us.”<br/>Cassandra frowned at her. “Unfortunately?”<br/>“Well had it worked, we would have been able to say ‘the people we attacked are liars and murderers, at least one of them is a vampire,” Vex saw the shadow of recognition flicker across Cassandra’s eyes. “He bit my brother last night’ and they would have had to believe us.” <br/> “I see.” Cass said simply. She drew a breath. “Anyway, Lucan told me that the best way to use the spell is to ask very simple questions, so I just looked Arras dead in the face and asked him ‘did you kill your wife?’ He couldn’t answer.”<br/>“Oh God.” Percy said softly. <br/>“He started about for a minute or so, then broke in to tears.” Cass continued. “He couldn’t answer ‘did you set your house on fire’ either. So our conclusion is he did both, then lied to the Warden and to me so consistently that it took magic to drag truth from him, or rather to silence the lies.”<br/>There was a long silence. “Well that justifies.” Percy said eventually. By his tone, he meant death. “Did he plan or..?”<br/>“Harder to tell.” Cass replied. “Even if it was a crime of passion, he lied under oath about it.”<br/>Vex looked questioningly between them for a second. “Death penalty for murder isn’t always cut and dried in Whitestone.” Percy offered. “If two people are fighting, both are in fear for their lives, and one kills the other, execution isn’t normally discussed. Likewise if someone acts on impulse and didn’t definitely intend the attack to be fatal, execution isn’t normally discussed, unless the perpetrator had a history of violent temper. If one person kills another who wasn’t reasonably a deadly threat, irrespective of fighting or fits of rage, they might pay with their life. But if you murder then lie about it, the law is much less forgiving.”<br/>“The fact that it took magic…” Cassandra said. “That sealed it for me. He killed her, set the house on fire to try to hide the evidence, then lied until he was under enchantment. I didn’t feel I could do anything else.”<br/>“Has it already happened?” Percy asked.<br/>Cassandra shook her head. “He chose shooting.”<br/>“That’s not-”<br/>“He specifically requested. Before I’d even asked the question.” Cassandra said. A condemned man in Whitestone had the right to choose his means of execution. Vex knew that.  Sword or rope. She’d not heard of criminals being shot before. “And he wants you to do it.”<br/>Percy’s eyes widened. “Cass, he can’t do that.”<br/>“He asked specifically as soon as I sentenced him to death. He asked to be shot, and to be shot by you, as you’re the man most likely to kill him first time, his words.”<br/>“They don’t get to choose their executioner. Nobody is supposed to know who executed anyone.”<br/>“I said yes, Percival.” <br/>Percy almost got up. “Cass!”<br/>“Does it really worry you, Percy? How many men have you shot?”<br/>“Cold blood is different to combat.”<br/>“Don’t tell me you haven’t done it before.”<br/>Vex felt more than heard Percy’s breath catch as he caught Cassandra’s eye. Silence stretched between them for a long moment.<br/>“I’m not proud.”<br/>“He murdered his wife then lied so fiercely it took magic to get to truth. He deserves to die.”<br/>“I knew him as a child, Cass.”<br/>“You knew Anders.”<br/>“You can’t draw that-”<br/>“I can.” Cassandra cut Percy off. “I can and I did. Honour my word. You’ve killed men you knew better and you’ve killed men for less.” There was another very long silence. Percy and Cassandra were staring hard at each other, unblinking. Vex wanted desperately to break it, but didn’t know what to say, then.<br/>“Fuck you.” Percy snarled. He jumped to his feet, snatched up his gun belt and swept out of the room. <br/>Vex got up as the door closed.<br/>“Leave him.” Cassandra said. Vex wondered if she smelled smoke in Percy’s wake. She looked back at Cassandra, who sighed deeply. “Let him sulk.”<br/>“What’s he-”<br/>“To kill the prisoner, if I’m any judge.” That hadn’t been Vex’s question. She stood by her chair a long moment. Surely she had to try to make this right, but… how? How did she fix this? Cassandra picked up her cup, drained it, and started refilling it. “How’s yours?” She asked, glancing at Vex’s cup.<br/>“Fine.” Vex sat down. “Cassandra, have you noticed that it’s possible to… win an… argument with Percy not by out-arguing him, but by causing him so much pain that he backs down.” <br/>Cassandra frowned up at her for a second, then a smile flickered across her face. “Oh, I wouldn’t call that pain, Vex. Not close. Just a little discomfort. He’s always hated being called a hypocrite. Surely you know just as well as I that winning an argument isn’t always about having the stronger position, but the angle of attack. If you know anyone long enough, you learn their weak spots. Surely you and your brother did this.”<br/>Vex felt her throat constrict. She looked away, eyes burning. She had. She’d always known exactly how to get a rise out of him, how to get him to huff or hit out at her or stalk off. And he never would again. There was no-<br/>“Sorry.” Cassandra said quietly. “It feels longer ago to me than it was. I forget how near it still is for you.” She sighed. “I don’t know if Percival has said this, but I won’t say that it stops, only that over time you notice it less of the time.” She swallowed and looked away. “And some day you’ll find that you don’t even feel guilty for that any more.” Vex stared mutely at Cassandra for a moment. Somehow the prospect of that was worse than grief. “Anyway, do you think Percival’s right? Do you think that Hector has all the power here?”</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Vex got to the main hall for breakfast a few minutes ahead of Percy. Cassandra was sitting reading a notebook at one end of the table as two or three servants set it, she barely acknowledged him as he came in. He was fully dressed, no blood nor powder on his hands, though Vex thought she could make out the outline of Retort under his coat. Vex stood up and walked over to him. He didn’t quite look at her.<br/>“Did you do it?” She breathed, as she reached him.<br/>He nodded once. “I’m not sure I could tell you why.”<br/>Vex drew breath slowly. “He killed his wife, Percy. There was a time you wouldn’t even have flinched. The fact that it bothers you now is-”<br/>The doors opened. Hector and Alyssa walked in. Cassandra jumped up. Percy looked up, the shadow vanishing from behind his eyes.<br/>“Hector, Alyssa,” Percy started forwards, “let me introduce my sister, Lady Cassandra Johanna Von Mussel Klossowski de Rolo, Guardian of Woven Stone. If Whitestone has a single point of power, she is it. Cassandra, this is Hector Dagonet Pelleas Hanserren and his wife, Alyssa Pelleas Hanserren.” <br/>Cassandra dropped a brief curtsey, Alyssa held hers much longer, and Hector bowed. <br/>“It’s wonderful to meet you at last.” Cassandra said, beaming at the two of them. “Come. Sit. Eat. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be here yesterday to greet you.”</p><p> </p><p>With hindsight, Percy felt he should reasonably have known that Vex and Cassandra negotiating together wouldn’t really need his help. Come to that, he might reasonably have known that Vex and Cassandra negotiating together would be formidable; both of them as stubborn as drunken dwarves, but they were faultlessly charming noblewomen. Dismissing with one word, flattering with the next, Hector Dagonet had never stood a chance, yet he wouldn’t come away from this feeling hard done by. <br/>This was fortunate, as Percy didn’t feel he was fully in the room. This morning he had killed a childhood playmate in cold blood, and he couldn’t put the notion away. Yes, it had been a judicial kill and, yes, Arrus’s guilt was fairly plain, but it didn’t sit easily with Percy. He’d killed and maimed in cold blood before, with Orthax steering him, but even then they’d been men who’d been a serious threat. Arrus hadn’t. Not to Percy anyway. Percy had arrived in the cells to find Arrus blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back, sobbing softly. The guards had seen Percy coming and pushed Arrus to his knees. Arrus had, at least to a degree, understood that and had called out.<br/>“Percival? Lord Percival? Are you there? Percival, can you forgive me?”<br/>Percy hadn’t answered. The less human Arrus seemed to him… He’d barely aimed, just taken one shot and blown the back of the poor bastard’s head open, mid plea. He’d tried to look away, he really had, but his guns were fast. The image of his childhood companion’s skull, caved and shattered, was burned in to the backs of Percy’s eyes, and he couldn’t give himself to negotiating just now. </p><p>The Hanserrens left early the next day, the bones of a trade deal agreed, pending review by Hector’s father. As far as Percy could see, Whitestone did much better out of this deal than the Hanserrens did, though some ground would probably have to be given in the next round. Cassandra made no further mention of Solace Hold, or Arrus.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>There is more along this line if people ask for it</p>
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